The US Coast Guard detained the tanker Olina (IMO 9282479), which was in the exclusive economic zone of Venezuela almost two months ago, and then turned off its transponder.
The American edition of The Walt Street Journal reported this, citing its own sources.
Unnnamed American officials said that Coast Guard personnel boarded the Olina tanker. The American ship is also monitoring other tankers that have tried to bypass the US naval blockade.
According to Reuters, the Olina tanker was detained in the Caribbean Sea near the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. According to public data, the vessel was mistakenly flying the flag of Timor-Leste.
The last time the transponder of the Olina tanker was active was 52 days ago. At the time of the shutdown, the vessel was in the exclusive economic zone of Venezuela.
The vessel, along with several other tankers, left Venezuela shortly after the United States conducted an operation to capture President Nicolas Maduro. The tanker is carrying a cargo of oil subject to sanctions.
The US authorities imposed sanctions on the tanker in January 2024, when the vessel was called Minerva M.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, last Wednesday, January 7, the United States detained the sanctioned Sophia tanker in the Caribbean Sea. Also on that day, the tanker Marinera was seized in the north-eastern part of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Marinera tanker tried to break away from the US Coast Guard ship. At some point, the crew drew the flag of the aggressor country of russia on board. This coincided with the sudden re-registration of the tanker in russia
The russians even sent ships of their fleet, including a submarine, to meet the tanker. They watched the boarding of US special forces on board the vessel, but did not take any measures to prevent it.
As TankerTrackers later reported, in less than a month, the United States has detained four tankers, three of which are under US sanctions.
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